Certified Advisory Corp Sells 10,256 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Certified Advisory Corp lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 36.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,228 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 10,256 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 244.1% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.86. 23,987,092 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,659,684. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).